Smart shop
Encyclopedia
A smart shop is a retail establishment that specializes in the sales of psychoactive substances, usually including psychedelic
s, as well as related literature and paraphernalia. The name derives from the name "smart drugs
", a class of drugs
and food supplements intended to affect cognitive enhancements which is often on sale in smart shops.
s, dissociatives, entactogens and deliriant
s local law permits. In the Netherlands
, which is home to most of the smart shops in Europe, this includes "magic" mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe
, which contain the psychedelic substances psilocin
and psilocybin
, as well as Salvia divinorum
, Amanita muscaria
, Peyote
, San Pedro cactus, Tabernanthe iboga, and various ingredients for Ayahuasca
preparations. Magic mushrooms, known locally as paddo's, are by far the most popular product.
However as of 1 December 2008, magic mushrooms are under stricter control in the Netherlands. This new controls are quite controversial, because the list of banned mushrooms also contains species that have no psychoactive substances. Magic Mushroom spore prints and grow boxes are still available over the counter in the Netherlands. Psilocybin is not included in the ban and continues to be sold in smart shops nation wide in truffle form.
. In the Netherlands, there is relatively little formal regulation of the smart shop industry, but the natural concentration of expertise about a relatively exotic range of products in combination with the realization that closer public scrutiny and regulation are always lurking in the background have caused the smart shops to organize into an industry association that, among other things, promotes the spread of information about its wares.
s to psychoactive drugs, including illegal ones. In the Netherlands, which has no drug paraphernalia
laws, this is entirely legal. In particular, the sales of literature about illegal drugs or their manufacture is rarely criticized and protected by a traditional concern for free speech in local law and custom that is more pronounced than in other European nations.
Many of the paraphernalia and complements sold in smart shops reduce, in one way or another, the harm associated with illegal drugs. For instance, reagent kits for testing the purity of ecstasy can be essential now that tablets named ecstasy can in practice contain just about anything, and often do not, in fact, contain MDMA at all. Supplements of vitamins and amino acids have been developed to mitigate specifically the damage of certain illegal drugs. Tryptophan
and 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, for instance, can be used to help the body replenish serotonin levels in the brain after the use of MDMA, and vitamin supplements are appropriate for users of stimulants such as amphetamine
. Vitamin B12
is depleted by recreational use of nitrous oxide
, and is thereby useful.
As of December 1 2008, the sale of magic mushrooms was subject to tighter control in the Netherlands.
This legal regime is markedly different from the one that applies to cannabis
products. Those are formally illegal under the Opium Act and international law, which after all explicitly bans the plant rather than the cannabinoids in it. Cannabis products such as marijuana
and hashish
can be sold and possessed only pursuant to a web of executive orders more-or-less silently assented to by parliament. The sale of magic mushrooms, on the other hand, was entirely legal and subject only to the common regulation of foodstuffs by the Warenautoriteit (Commodities Authority).
s found in many countries. Head shops provide only paraphernalia, whereas smart shops usually sell at least some actual drugs. The term head shop is more common in the UK, though many British head shops sold magic mushrooms until July 2005 when the Government introduced a complete ban on magic mushrooms, putting them in the same category as heroin and crack cocaine. Many of the British head shops still sell a range of other legal highs.
In Portugal the drug laws are very liberal, and several Smartshops have opened in the last year. A chain store, called Magic Mushroom, emerged as the market leader. Shops in Portugal still sell all type of Herbal incense and Plantfeeders. In the Republic of Ireland, there has been a recent rise in the number of smart shops within major cities. As with UK based head shops mentioned above, both paraphernalia and "legal highs" are available from these stores, such as Salvia Divinorum
and BZP
based products designed to simulate illegal drug highs such as those experienced through the use of amphetamines [speed], methamphetamines, and psychedelics [psilocybin]. Magic mushrooms were available until the government closed a loophole, effectively banning the sale of raw or prepared magic mushrooms in January 2006. BZP is now illegal in the Republic of Ireland.
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
s, as well as related literature and paraphernalia. The name derives from the name "smart drugs
Nootropic
Nootropics , also referred to as smart drugs, brain steroids, memory enhancers, cognitive enhancers, and intelligence enhancers, are drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that improve mental functions such as cognition, memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, and concentration...
", a class of drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
and food supplements intended to affect cognitive enhancements which is often on sale in smart shops.
Psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants
Smart shops are best known in practice for selling whatever psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
s, dissociatives, entactogens and deliriant
Deliriant
The deliriants are a special class of acetylcholine-inhibitor hallucinogen. The term was introduced by David F. Duncan and Robert S...
s local law permits. In the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, which is home to most of the smart shops in Europe, this includes "magic" mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe
Psilocybe
Psilocybe is a genus of small mushrooms growing worldwide. This genus is best known for its species with psychedelic or hallucinogenic properties, widely known as "magic mushrooms", though the majority of species do not contain hallucinogenic compounds...
, which contain the psychedelic substances psilocin
Psilocin
Psilocin , an aromatic compound, sometimes also spelled psilocine, psilocyn, or psilotsin, is a psychedelic mushroom alkaloid. It is found in most psychedelic mushrooms together with its phosphorylated counterpart psilocybin...
and psilocybin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
, as well as Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences...
, Amanita muscaria
Amanita muscaria
Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita , is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita...
, Peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, San Pedro cactus, Tabernanthe iboga, and various ingredients for Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
preparations. Magic mushrooms, known locally as paddo's, are by far the most popular product.
However as of 1 December 2008, magic mushrooms are under stricter control in the Netherlands. This new controls are quite controversial, because the list of banned mushrooms also contains species that have no psychoactive substances. Magic Mushroom spore prints and grow boxes are still available over the counter in the Netherlands. Psilocybin is not included in the ban and continues to be sold in smart shops nation wide in truffle form.
Education and information
Smart shops have become a natural source of information about the drugs they sell. They commonly provide instruction leaflets similar to the package inserts distributed with prescription drugs, which contain information on contra-indications, side-effects, and the importance of set and settingSet and setting
Set and setting describes the context for psychoactive and particularly psychedelic drug experiences: one's mindset and the setting in which the user has the experience. This is especially relevant for psychedelic or hallucinogenic experiences...
. In the Netherlands, there is relatively little formal regulation of the smart shop industry, but the natural concentration of expertise about a relatively exotic range of products in combination with the realization that closer public scrutiny and regulation are always lurking in the background have caused the smart shops to organize into an industry association that, among other things, promotes the spread of information about its wares.
The decline of synthetic drugs
Smart shops in the Netherlands have been known in the past to sell synthetic substances that were not (yet) illegal under the Dutch Opium act. The sale of synthetic drugs not explicitly approved as food, supplements or medicines is illegal in the Netherlands. It is dealt with by the relatively benign machinery of the Warenautoriteit (Commodities Authority) rather than in criminal law, as would be the case with controlled substances. Yet, this has made it effectively impossible to sell them in a formal retail setting, even if their production and possession is entirely legitimate. Smart shops have attempted no further marketing of synthetics since they tried to sell methylone as a "room odorizer" but were ultimately forced to pull it from their shelves in 2004, though it can still be obtained under the counter in some shops.Paraphernalia and complement products
Smart shops sell many products that can be seen as complement goodComplement good
A complementary good, in contrast to a substitute good, is a good with a negative cross elasticity of demand. This means a good's demand is increased when the price of another good is decreased. Conversely, the demand for a good is decreased when the price of another good is increased...
s to psychoactive drugs, including illegal ones. In the Netherlands, which has no drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia is a term used, often with a slightly negative connotation due to its use in criminal law field e.g. "possession of drug paraphernalia", to denote any equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes...
laws, this is entirely legal. In particular, the sales of literature about illegal drugs or their manufacture is rarely criticized and protected by a traditional concern for free speech in local law and custom that is more pronounced than in other European nations.
Many of the paraphernalia and complements sold in smart shops reduce, in one way or another, the harm associated with illegal drugs. For instance, reagent kits for testing the purity of ecstasy can be essential now that tablets named ecstasy can in practice contain just about anything, and often do not, in fact, contain MDMA at all. Supplements of vitamins and amino acids have been developed to mitigate specifically the damage of certain illegal drugs. Tryptophan
Tryptophan
Tryptophan is one of the 20 standard amino acids, as well as an essential amino acid in the human diet. It is encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG...
and 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, for instance, can be used to help the body replenish serotonin levels in the brain after the use of MDMA, and vitamin supplements are appropriate for users of stimulants such as amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
. Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12, vitamin B12 or vitamin B-12, also called cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin with a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins...
is depleted by recreational use of nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
, and is thereby useful.
Smart shops in Dutch law
Legally, smart shops operate under a decision of the Hoge Raad (Supreme Court) that has declared that unprepared mushrooms and cacti are not considered "preparations" of the substances they contain, and are therefore not banned under the Opium Act or international law even if their active ingredients are.As of December 1 2008, the sale of magic mushrooms was subject to tighter control in the Netherlands.
This legal regime is markedly different from the one that applies to cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
products. Those are formally illegal under the Opium Act and international law, which after all explicitly bans the plant rather than the cannabinoids in it. Cannabis products such as marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
and hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
can be sold and possessed only pursuant to a web of executive orders more-or-less silently assented to by parliament. The sale of magic mushrooms, on the other hand, was entirely legal and subject only to the common regulation of foodstuffs by the Warenautoriteit (Commodities Authority).
Smart shops outside the Netherlands
Smart shop is distinguished from head shopHead shop
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in drug paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, legal highs, legal party powders and New Age herbs, as well as counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor; some head shops also sell oddities, such as...
s found in many countries. Head shops provide only paraphernalia, whereas smart shops usually sell at least some actual drugs. The term head shop is more common in the UK, though many British head shops sold magic mushrooms until July 2005 when the Government introduced a complete ban on magic mushrooms, putting them in the same category as heroin and crack cocaine. Many of the British head shops still sell a range of other legal highs.
In Portugal the drug laws are very liberal, and several Smartshops have opened in the last year. A chain store, called Magic Mushroom, emerged as the market leader. Shops in Portugal still sell all type of Herbal incense and Plantfeeders. In the Republic of Ireland, there has been a recent rise in the number of smart shops within major cities. As with UK based head shops mentioned above, both paraphernalia and "legal highs" are available from these stores, such as Salvia Divinorum
Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences...
and BZP
Benzylpiperazine
Benzylpiperazine is a recreational drug with euphoric, stimulant properties. The effects produced by BZP are comparable to those produced by amphetamine. Adverse effects have been reported following its use including acute psychosis, renal toxicity, and seizures...
based products designed to simulate illegal drug highs such as those experienced through the use of amphetamines [speed], methamphetamines, and psychedelics [psilocybin]. Magic mushrooms were available until the government closed a loophole, effectively banning the sale of raw or prepared magic mushrooms in January 2006. BZP is now illegal in the Republic of Ireland.